U.S. patent number 6,355,095 [Application Number 09/576,333] was granted by the patent office on 2002-03-12 for dc/ac air cleaner for a vehicle.
Invention is credited to Huang Kuo-Long.
United States Patent |
6,355,095 |
Kuo-Long |
March 12, 2002 |
DC/AC air cleaner for a vehicle
Abstract
A DC/AC air cleaner for a vehicle includes a chassis having a
bottom plate and two side plates formed on two sides of the bottom
plate, respectively. An insertion slot is defined in the bottom
plate, and two inner plates are mounted between the side plates and
configured to define a clamping slot, a positioning slot, and an
engaging slot. A lower end of a face plate is held by the insertion
slot. A lower end of an activated filtering mesh is held by the
clamping slot. A lower end of a static discharger is held by the
positioning slot, and the lower end of a fan is held by the
engaging slot. An upper cover is provided to retain the upper end
of the face plate, upper end of the activated filtering mesh, upper
end of the static discharger, and upper end of the fan.
Inventors: |
Kuo-Long; Huang (Tainan Hsien,
TW) |
Family
ID: |
24303994 |
Appl.
No.: |
09/576,333 |
Filed: |
May 22, 2000 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
96/26; 55/385.3;
96/58; 96/63; 96/83; 96/84; 96/97 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61L
9/16 (20130101); B03C 3/32 (20130101); B60H
3/0071 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A61L
9/16 (20060101); B03C 3/00 (20060101); B03C
3/32 (20060101); B60H 3/00 (20060101); B03C
003/72 () |
Field of
Search: |
;96/97,63,83,84,26,57,58
;55/385.3 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Chiesa; Richard L.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Kamrath; ALan Rider, Bennett, Egan
& Arundel, LLP
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A DC/AC air cleaner for a vehicle, comprising:
chassis (10) including a bottom plate (11) and two side plates (12)
formed on two sides of the bottom plate, respectively, an insertion
slot (111) being defined in the bottom plate, two inner plates (13)
being mounted between the side plates (12) and configured to define
a clamping slot (15), a positioning slot (16), and an engaging slot
(17),
a circuit board (142) mounted to the bottom plate,
a face plate (20) having a lower end held by the insertion slot
(111) and an upper end,
an activated filtering mesh (26) having a lower end held by the
clamping slot (15) and an upper end,
a static discharger (30) having a lower end held by the positioning
slot (16) and an upper end,
a fan (40) having a lower end held by the engaging slot (17) and an
upper end, and
an upper cover (50) for retaining the upper end of the face plate
(20), the upper end of the activated filtering mesh (26), the upper
end of the static discharger (30), and the upper end of the fan
(40).
2. The DC/AC air cleaner for a vehicle as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the upper cover (50) includes an underside that is
configured to define a second insertion slot (53), a second
clamping slot (55), and a second positioning slot (57) for holding
the upper end of the face plate (20), the upper end of the
activated filtering mesh (26), the upper end of the static
discharger (30), respectively.
3. The DC/AC air cleaner for a vehicle as claimed in claim 1,
wherein the bottom plate (11) further comprises a separation plate
(134) formed thereon, a row of discharging pins (135) being mounted
between the separation plate (134) and the engaging slot (17).
4. The DC/AC air cleaner for a vehicle as claimed in claim 1,
further comprising a third brake lamp (18) mounted to the chassis
(10), the third brake lamp being adapted to be electrically
connected to a brake control system of a vehicle.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a DC/AC air cleaner for a
vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
Air pollution becomes more and more serious. A car driver and the
passenger(s) in a car must withstand poor air quality if the car
windows are opened. If the car windows are all closed, the air
quality in the isolated space in the car is also intolerable. The
present invention is intended to provide a DC/AC air cleaner for a
vehicle to solve this problem.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the present invention a DC/AC air cleaner for a
vehicle comprises:
a chassis including a bottom plate and two side plates formed on
two sides of the bottom plate, respectively, an insertion slot
being defined in the bottom plate, two inner plates being mounted
between the side plates and configured to define a clamping slot, a
positioning slot, and an engaging slot,
a circuit board mounted to the bottom plate,
a face plate having a lower end held by the insertion slot and an
upper end,
an activated filtering mesh having a lower end held by the clamping
slot and an upper end,
a static discharger having a lower end held by the positioning slot
and an upper end,
a fan having a lower end held by the engaging slot and an upper
end, and
an upper cover for retaining the upper end of the face plate, the
upper end of the activated filtering mesh, the upper end of the
static discharger, and the upper end of the fan.
Other objects, advantages, and novel features of the invention will
become more apparent from the following detailed description when
taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a DC/AC air cleaner in
accordance with the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a perspective view of the DC/AC air cleaner in accordance
with the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a top view of the DC/AC air cleaner in accordance with
the present invention, wherein the upper cover is removed for
clarity.
FIG. 4 is a schematic view illustrating mounting of the DC/AC air
cleaner to a car.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Referring to FIGS. 1 through 3, a DC/AC air cleaner 1 in accordance
with the present invention generally includes a chassis 10, a face
plate 20, an activated carbon filtering mesh 26, a static
discharger 30, a fan 40, and an upper cover 50. The chassis 10
includes a bottom plate 11, two side plates 12 formed on two sides
of the bottom plate 11, respectively, and two inner plates 13
disposed on the bottom plate 11. One of the inner plate 13 and an
adjacent side plate 12 together define a compartment 14 in which a
number of posts 141 are mounted. A circuit board 142 is supported
at top of the posts 141. A socket 144 is provided in a rear of the
compartment 14 to allow insertion of power lines.
An insertion slot 111 is defined in a front end of the bottom board
11 for positioning a lower end of the face plate 20. Rib plates 131
and 132 and a block 133 are attached to each inner plate 13,
thereby defining a clamping slot 15, a positioning slot 16, and an
engaging slot 17 in the inner plate 13 (the left one in FIG. 3). By
such an arrangement, the lower end of the face plate 20 is directly
inserted into the insertion slot 111, a lower end of a frame 25 of
the activated carbon filtering mesh 26 is inserted into the
clamping slot 15, a lower end of the static discharger 30 is
inserted into the positioning slot 16, and a lower end of a frame
41 of the fan 40 is inserted into the engaging slot 17. All of the
elements are thus positioned.
The side plates 12 (the left one in FIG. 3) on the bottom plate 10
define a U-shape groove 121, and the upper cover 50 includes a
U-shape protrusion 51 so as to be received in the U-shape groove
121, thereby positioning the upper cover 50. The upper cover 50
further includes two rib plates 54 and 56 to define an insertion
slot 53, a clamping slot 55, and a positioning slot 57 for clamping
an upper end of the face plate 20, upper end of the frame 25 of the
activated carbon filtering mesh 26, and upper end of the static
discharger 30, respectively. Upper end of the frame 41 of the fan
40 is held in place by an underside of the upper cover 50 from
which the rib plates 54 and 56 project downwardly. By such an
arrangement, all of the elements for filtration can be positioned
between the chassis 10 and the upper cover 50.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 3, the face plate 20 includes a plurality
of air holes 21, a switch 22, a knob 23, and an indication lamp 24.
The switch 22, knob 23, and indication lamp 24 are connected to a
circuit board 142 by wires. The socket 144 and the fan 40 as well
as power source for driving the fan 40 are also electrically
connected to the circuit board 142. Positive and negative pole
plates 145 are mounted to the chassis 10 and in contact with
positive and negative poles 32 of the static discharger 30. Also
disposed on the chassis 10 is a separation plate 134, and a row of
discharging pins 135 are mounted between the separation plate 134
and the engaging slot 17. The static discharger 30 includes a
plurality of layers of static dust-collecting board 31. The high
voltage between the poles 32 is fed to each layer of static
dust-collecting board 31, thereby generating a magnetic field
between each two adjacent layers of static dust-collecting board
31. A third brake lamp 18 may be mounted to a rear of the chassis
10.
The air cleaner of the present invention can be mounted to a rear
seat area of a car and located adjacent to the rear windshield,
best shown in FIG. 4. The socket 144 may be inserted by a vehicle
power source. The lamp 18 is connected to the brake control system
of the car, thereby acting as a third brake lamp for the car.
When in use, referring to FIG. 1, the fan 40 is activated to turn
for drawing air into the air cleaner 1 via the air holes 21 in the
face plate 20. The air drawn into the air cleaner 1 is firstly
filtered by the activated carbon filtering mesh 26 to remove larger
particles in the air. The air is then moved into the magnetic
fields in the static discharger 30. The discharging pins 135 of the
static discharger 30 may decompose smaller particles in the air and
generates a large amount of negative ions in the air which are then
fed out via the outlets 42, thereby filtering the air inside the
car.
Although the invention has been explained in relation to its
preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that many other
possible modifications and variations can be made without departing
from the spirit and scope of the invention as hereinafter
claimed.
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